When Dell put up its IdeaStorm community-feedback site, the company was surprised by the strong response in favor of shipping personal computers with Linux. The PC company then announced that it would offer Ubuntu Linux on select systems, and as of yesterday, they are taking orders. Ubuntu Linux is now available on the XPS 410n high-end desktop system at USD 849 (compared with USD 899 for the same machine with Windows installed), the E520n desktop at USD 599, and the E1505n notebook at USD 599. For now, the Ubuntu systems will only be available to customers in the United States. Availability is expected 'in the coming weeks' according to an announcement given on May 1, but Dell.com lists a shipping time of three to five days.
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Member since:2006-09-24
Member since:2005-08-31
I'll bite.
That's because the software isn't the only cost that goes into getting a laptop to your door.
Do you expect an Apple Mac to be cheaper? No, but you can't put a price point on OSX, so why don't you assume it should be cheaper than Windows?
Dell have done a Good Thing(tm) here, my personal opinion is that it doesn't have the backing from Dell that it needs to be sustainable, but time will tell.
Member since:2006-09-08
No, you **DO NOT** want ATI cards in Linux. It's a good thing they are using Intel
What you get with an ATI card in Linux:
1) you get kicked to a black screen on bootup, because distributions cannot bundle proprietary drivers. So the end user must type sudo apt-get install xorg-ati-whatever, make depends, etc..
2) crashes
3) crahses when switching from virtual terminal to X
4) suspend/hibernate problems
5) possible security issue
6) underdeveloped driver
7) no AIGLX (bye bye compiz and beryl)
8) no Xvmc
Crappiest drivers ever.
Edited 2007-05-26 04:07
Member since:2005-10-13
It's worth noting that most of those issues are only valid with the newer X1xxx+ cards. If you get an older one like the X300-800 series things work pretty well OOTB with open source drivers. Of course, at that point you may as well just go with the cheaper Intel chip since performance isn't much better...
Member since:2005-07-02
Well, that's not quite accurate. It really depends on the actual chipset. Here I have a Xpress 200M chipset, and here's the experience:
1) you don't get a black screen on bootup, because the ati free driver works well for 2D; installing the proprietary hardware is a bit more of a pain than, say, for a Nvidia card, but there is a good howto here:
http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Ubuntu_Feisty_Installation_Guide
2) The fglrx driver is much more stable than it used to be
3) The fglrx driver no longer crahses when switching from virtual terminal to X (this bug was solved recently)
4) Suspend/hibernate now works reasonably well, though you need to tweak parameters in /etc/default/acpi-support...
5) I'm not aware of possible security issues, nor to the current security status
6) The driver's performance is *acceptable*...there's room for improvement, definitely
7) No AIGLX, but you can still have Compiz/Beryl using Xgl...it's a bit more of a hassle, but the performance is good (that's what I have right now on my Kubuntu laptop)
8) No Xvmc, unfortunately
So, while it is still far from perfect, it's not *quite* as bad as you make it to be. Certainly, for high-performance 3D graphics, going with Nvidia is the preferred choice.
Member since:
2005-07-06
Not sure about desktop, but "similary" configured Ubuntu E1505 is $649, and it still has integrated Intel GMA950 video while $699 Windows-based E1505 has 256Mb ATI X1400, (which, according to Dell site, cost additional $99). So E1505 with Vista is a better deal.